Posted on 05/07/2006 3:59:56 PM PDT by MILESJESU
The Holy Eucharist As Sharing In Divinity by Fr. Sharbel Maroun
Pastor of St. Maron Church Minneapolis, Minnesota
“You have united O Lord, Your divinity with our humanity And our humanity with your divinity. Your life with our mortality, And our mortality with your life.
You have assumed what is ours And you have given us what is yours. For the life and salvation of our souls. To you be glory forever.”
These words that are used in the Maronite Liturgy at the time of the mingling of the precious Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus summarize the whole Maronite Theology.
They define the Divine Liturgy as the action where God touches, transforms, makes us sharers in the Divine nature and perfects us. In His birth, life, death and resurrection, Jesus, the God-Made-Man transforms, and completes humanity.
The Maronite spirituality teaches that the “image of Adam” was not destroyed but deformed by sin, and is recreated in a new splendor by Jesus the Savior.Baptism in the name of the Holy Trinity begins the process, Chrismation (Confirmation) perfects it, and the Holy Eucharist fulfills it.
The Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church sees the Holy Eucharist as a sharing in the divine nature,divinization and transformation.
It is clear through the Divine Liturgy that the Eucharist is given as a Medicine for Life. The priest gives the Eucharist to those receiving it saying, “The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are given to you for the forgiveness of sins and for eternal life.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theheartofjesus.org ...
A FINE TALK BY FATHER SHARBEL MAROUN BUMP
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